Happy discovery!

This picture is from another day, but a post is necessary! This was such a fun find! On a run today I found a shortcut, through the woods, to the park! It is so cool for a few reasons - we can get to the park/pool in about half the time/distance than we used to - bonus when I move with some slow travelers. Also, it's really cool for running! There are a few different paths in there and it is just a great change of scenery from neighborhood streets. Running is also feeling new and exciting because Mike got me a cool baby present - a new GPS - my sweet boy got me one back when they first came out, probably almost a decade ago, but it wasn't working so well anymore and it was a bit clunky. Anyway, now I feel so liberated running all over the place with little plan, just watching the time/distance tick away as I wander freely! Even looping around in my neighborhood is fun since there are lots of streets. For the past few years, since we've lived here, I was pretty used to a few 1, 2, and 3-mile loops, and now I can hardly imagine doing any of them exactly! I love to just tack on a random bit here or there hardly even noticing! ...excuse my rambling...I've been up since, oh, 3:15am!

PS- the GPS/woods connection - before I would have liked running in there, but I would never have been able to tell how much I ran. One more thing, for the same reason, I have been running in the park a lot too, and didn't before b/c I didn't know how far I was going. Ok, lastly, in the park/woods, I see tons of animals! Well, not lots of different kinds, but lots of deer and bunnies! For instance, in my last run (actually in Sept -- excuse the back-posting), I saw 2 deer and a bunny, which I met up with twice on the run (3x for the small deer!) and the last time I saw them, there was also a squirrel (usual) very close to my head (unusual)! It's like they don't wear/notice me for some reason, and all let me get very close to them before they dash off, and they don't even go far, just a bit off the path - totally freaks me out! My high school track coach would be proud of my quiet steps :) Bonus: this all gives an automatic jolt to my pace :) Again, sorry for the rambles - Jenny, you are probably the only one still reading ... this saves us a bit of time on the phone!